Razor



May 13, 1941.

A. w. scQTT RAZOR Filed May 20, 19.38

Patented May 13, 1941 UNETED STATES PATEN'E @FHCE RAZOR Arnold W. Scott, Detroit, Mich.

Application May 20, 1938, Serial No. 299,1 26

10 Claims.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rotating cutter in the form of a cylindrical basket or reel which is arranged to rotate within a sleeve or housing without the necessity for shaft'bearings and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the rotating cutter and its coperating stationary cutter may be reversed with respect to each other to appreciably lengthen the life of the cutting head.

' Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the hair receiving slot of the cutting head may be disposed substantially in the plane of the handle of the razor or displaced angularly with respect thereto so that the razor may, in cutting, be moved transversely or substantially parallel to the plane of the handle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a drive shaft removably associated with the rotatable cutter and connectible to either end thereof whereby the rotatable cutting reel may be reversed end for end.

These and other objects will become apparent from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Referring to the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of the cutting head.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the cutting head mounted upon the handle, and taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail View showing the manner in which the hair-receiving-slot-adjusting member is mounted upon the cutting head.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the cutting head mounted upon the handle.

- Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective of the several parts comprising the cutting head.

E'ig. Tis a perspective view of the removable drive shaft.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawing, the numeral l0 designates generally 1 the cutting head. The head I 0 comprises a bifurcated supporting member indicated by the reference character H in Fig. 6, said supporting member including a base portion I? designed to serve as a means by which the cutting head may be detachably secured to any convenient form of casing l3, such casing forming the handle of the razor and housing the driving mechanism therefor in accordance with conventional practice.

The casing and the driving means housed therein I form no part of the present invention but I contemplate using a casing member divided longitudinally as shown at M, the upper and lower portions of the casing being detachabiy secured together by any suitable means such as screws'i5. As shown in Fig. 5', the casing I3 is provided with a transverse groove H3 at its forward end in which the base portion l2 of the supporting member H is positioned and detachably secured therein by means of screw elements I! carried by the casing and extending into threaded engagement with suitable apertures l8 provided" in opposite ends of the base portion ll of the supporting member. A shaft l9 forming part of the driving mechanism housed within the casing l3 projects from said housing into the groove It as shown in Figs. 3 and 5 and said shaft is provided at its projecting extremity with a suitable gear element such as the worm gear 20.

The base portion l2 of the supporting member H is provided intermediate its ends with a recess 2| designed to receive the projecting end and gear of the shaft !9. The supporting member 12 is further provided with a shaft 22 journalled in and extending longitudinally through one end 0;. portion 23 of the'base I2, said shaft being provided at one end with a gear 24 meshing with the gear 2!! of shaft l8, and at the other end with a gear 25 meshing with a gear 28 mounted on a suitable stub shaft 21 provided on the end face of the portion 23 of the base of the supporting member II. The gears 24 and 25 and the shaft 22 may be maintained in proper position with respect to the gears 28 and 26 by means of a collar 28 secured to the shaft 22 and engaging one face of the recess H, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In this case it is to be understood that the cutting head H3 may be readily mounted upon and detached from the casing I3, said operation being accompanied by the operative engagement and disengagement of the intermeshing gears 29 and 24.

The bifurcated supporting member H is provided with spaced arcuate arms or bracket members 29 designed to receive and adjustably support a spring metal split sleeve member 39. The sleeve member 39 has a slightly larger diameter than the diameter of the arcuate arms 29 whereby said sleeve is firmly but adjustably supported in said arms by reason of the frictional engagement between the outer surface of the sleeve and the inner surface of the arms 29 due to the inherent tendency of the sleeve to expand. The sleeve 39, as stated, is provided with a split or longitudinally extending opening 3|, said opening extending from end to end of the sleeve and, as will presently appear, defining the hair receiving opening of the cutting head.

A rotatable cutter member is mounted within the sleeve 39, said cutting member as best shown in Fig. 2 comprising a reel or basket-shaped cylindrical cutting device comprising spaced spider members 32, 33 and 34. The spider members are connected at their extremities by spirally disposed cutting elements 35 which are each provided with plural longitudinal cutting edges 35, 36. Similarly, the sleeve 39 has the edges 31 which define the hair receiving opening of the cutting head, fashioned to cooperate as stationary cutting elements for the spiral cutting elements 35 of the rotatable cutting reel. The provision of dual cutting edges on the sleeve 39 and the cutting elements 35 makes it possible to reverse the rotatable cutting member within the sleeve and thus prolong the useful life thereof.

In order to operatively connect the cutting reel with the drive gearing previously described, said reel is provided with a detachable drive shaft 38 shown more clearly in Fig. 7. The drive shaft 38 is detachably connected to the cutting reel by means of a flattened end 39 which is passed through keyhole openings 49 in either of the end spiders 32 or 34 of the cutting reel and thence into the slotted central spider 33 as shown in Fig. 3. The flattened portion 39 of the drive shaft 38 is provided with notches 4| designed to engage opposite side walls of the slot 42 of the spider 33. In order to provide a proper driving connection between the flattened portion 39 of the shaft 38 and the spider 33, it is, of course, obvious that the bottom walls of the notches 4| are spaced from each other a greater distance than the width of the slot 42. By this arrangement the drive shaft 33 may be readily connectcd in driving relation to either end of the cutting reel and the gear 43 carried by said shaft, properly meshed with the drive gear 26 previously referred to. The intermeshed gears 25, 26, 2! and 43 are preferably housed within a casing or shield 44 suitably secured to the end wall of the supporting member H in any desired manner.

As previously stated, my invention contemplates the provision of means whereby the width of the hair receiving slot may be varied or adjusted to regulate the closeness of the out. To this end I provide a slot adjusting member indicated generally by the reference character 45 in Fig. 6. The member 45 comprises an arcuate spring clamping arm45 somewhat greater than 180 in arcuate extent, said arm terminating at one end in an extended arcuate plate 41. The slot adjusting member 45 is designed to embrace the sleeve 39 and to this end is disposed Within the bifurcation 48 of the supporting member H in embracing relation to the sleeve 39. This disposition of the parts is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5. The extreme outer free end of the adjusting member 45 is provided with an inturned edge 49, said edge extending the full length of the head 41 and lying within the hair receiving opening 3| of the sleeve 39, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5. The inturned edge 49 terminates clear of the path of rotation of the cutting elements 35 of the rotating cutter so as to preclude interference therebetween. Normally the edge 49 lies in close contact with the upper edge 31 of the sleeve 39 to thus define a cutting opening of maximum width. In order to reduce the ef fective width of said opening I provide means whereby the slot adjusting member 45 and the sleeve 39 may be angularly shifted with respect to each other about the axis of rotation of the rotatable cutter. This relative rotation is accomplished by providing the sleeve 39 with tooth formations 59 on its exterior surface at a point intermediate its ends and in alignment with the bifurcation 48 of the supporting member I when said sleeve is positioned in the latter. The slot adjusting member 45 is provided with an adjusting screw 5| to operatively engage the thread formations 59. The screw 5| is suitably mounted in tongue members 52 struck out of the arcuate spring clamp 48 so that when the elements are positioned as shown more particularly in Fig. 3, the threads 53 of the adjusting screw 5| operatively engage the thread formations 59 on the sleeve 39. Thus, by rotating the adjusting screw 5| the sleeve 39 and the slot adjusting member 45 may be relatively angularly shifted to regulate the width of the cutting or hair receiving slot 3|.

The invention also contemplates means whereby the cutting opening may be disposed either in line with the handle l3 or laterally thereof. Thus, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the cutting opening 3| is disposed substantially in line with the handle l3. If it is desired to position the cutting opening laterally of the handle |3 the sleeve 39 with its enclosed cutting reel, and the slot adjusting member 45, are rotated as a unit within the arms 29 of the supporting member H in a counterclockwise direction to bring the cutting opening to any desired point between the free ends of the arcuate arms 29, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. For the purpose of facilitating this adjustment the arcuate arms 29 are somewhat more than 189 in arcuate extent to firmly grip the resilient sleeve 39 but the free ends thereof are at the same time spaced appreciably greater than 90 in order to give a maximum range of angular adjustment for the cutting opening 3|.

In order to maintain the spring metal sleeve 39 within the arcuate arms 29 the supporting member I! may be provided on its side face with a threaded aperture 54 in which may be threaded a retaining screw 55. The position of the aperture 54 and the dimension of the head of the screw 55 are such that the screw 55 operatively engages in overlapping relation the end face or edge of the sleeve 39, as clearly shown in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that I have provided a dry shaver having a rotatable cutter which is mounted for rotation 35. This may be accomplished by removing the detachable drive shaft 38 from the end 32. of the roating cutter as shown in Fig. 2 and connecting it to the cutter from the end 34, as previously described. Furthermore, the sleeve 30 may be similarly reversed end for end to provide a new stationary cutting edge 3'!- to cooperate with the new position of the rotating cutter.

It is to be noted that by providing the rotating cutter with spiral cutting blades in the manner described, it is the inherent tendency of the cutting head to feed the cut hairs from right to left as viewed in Fig. 1. Thus the cut hairs are discharged from the end of the cutting head opposite the driving gears.

Furthermore, it is apparent that by the means shown and described -I have provided means for readily varying the effective width of the cutting slot throughout its entire length as well as providing means for disposing the cutting opening either in line with or laterally of the plane of the handle casing.

It is to be understood that I reserve the right to make such changes in details of construction, size and proportion of parts as fairly fall within the scope of my invention as herein shown and described, the novel features of which are pointed out more particularly in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a razor, a cutting head comprising a supporting member including spaced, arcuate sleevesupporting arms, an open ended cylindrical sleeve mounted within the supporting arms, said arms engaging the sleeve intermediate its ends whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed, said sleeve being provided with a side wall opening extending from end to end thereof, a rotatable cutter mounted within said sleeve, said rotatable cutter having cutting elements cooperable with the side edges of the opening in the sleeve, and means for rotating the cutter within the sleeve, whereby hairs fed through the side opening of the sleeve are cut and pass longitudinally of the sleeve out through an open end thereof.

2. In a razor, a cutting head comprising a supporting member including spaced, arcuate sleevesupporting arms, an open ended cylindrical sleeve mounted within the supporting arms, said arms engaging the sleeve intermediate its ends whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed, said sleeve being provided with a side wall opening extending from end to end thereof, a rotatable cutter mounted within said sleeve, said rotatable cutter having cutting elements cooperable with the side edges of the opening in the sleeve, means for rotating the cutter within the sleeve, whereby hairs fed through the side opening of the sleeve are cut and pass longituinally of the sleeve out through an open end thereof, and means for varying the effective width. of said side wall opening in the sleeve.

3. In a razor, a cutting head comprising a supporting member including spaced, arcuate sleevesupporting arms, an open ended cylindrical sleeve mounted within the supporting arms, said arms engaging the sleeve intermediate its ends whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed, said sleeve being provided with a side wall opening extending from end to end thereof, a rotatable cutter mounted within said sleeve, said rotatable cutter having cutting elements cooperable with the side edges of the opening in the sleeve, means for rotating the cutter within the sleeve, whereby hairs fed through the side opening of the sleeve are cut and pass longitudinally of the sleeve out through an open end thereof, means for varying the effective width of said side wall opening in the sleeve, said lastmentioned means including a plate overlying the sleeve and having an edge terminating in the side wall opening of the sleeve and extending the full length thereof, and means for relatively moving the plate with reference to the sleeve.

4. In a razor, a cutting head comprising a bifurcated supporting member including spaced arcuate arms, a resilient split sleeve adjustably mounted in said arms, the slit in said sleeve defining the hair receiving opening of the cutting head, a rotatable cutter mounted within said sleeve and means for driving the same, means for adjusting the width of the hair receiving slot including a plate overlying the sleeve and having an inturned edge terminating in said slot, means for operatively coupling the plate with said sleeve, means whereby the sleeve and plate may be moved as a unit within said spaced arm and about the axis of the cutter, and means for moving the plate with respect to the sleeve for varying the effective width of the hair receiving opening.

5. In a razor, a cutting head'comprising arcuate supporting arms, a resilient open-ended cylindrical sleeve frictionally supported in said arms and provided with a side wall opening extending from end to end thereof, said arms engaging the sleeve intermediate its end whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed, a cylindrical cutter mounted for rotation within the sleeve in direct supporting engagement with the inner cylindrical surface of the sleeve, means for driving the cutter, and means for maintaining the sleeve in operative relation to said supporting arms.

6. In a razor, a cutting head comprising arouate sup-porting arms, a resilient open-ended cylindrical sleeve supported in said arms and provided with a side wall opening extending from end to end thereof, said arms engaging the sleeve intermediate 'its end whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed, a cylindrical cutter mounted for rotation within the sleeve in direct supporting engagement with the inner cylindrical surface of the sleeve, means for driving the cutter, and means for maintaining the sleeve in operative relation to said supporting arms, said last-mentioned means comprising an abutment carried by the supporting member and having overlapping engagement with an end wall of the sleeve.

7. In a razor, a cutting head including a handle portion, a sleeve member supported in said head with the axis of the sleeve extending transversely of the axis of the handle portion, said sleeve member being provided with a side wall opening for the reception of hairs to be cut, means for adjusting the effective width of said opening, said sleeve and said adjustment means being adjustable as a unit angularly of the head and about the axis of said sleeve, and means operable in any position of adjustment of the sleeve with respect to the head for actuating said slot adjustment mean-s.

8. In a razor, a cutting head including a handle portion and arcuate supporting arms disposed on an axis transverse to the axis of the handle portion, a cylindrical sleeve frictionally supported within said arms for angular adjustment about the axis of the sleeve, said sleeve being provided with a side Wall opening, a rotatable cutter mounted within said sleeve and cooperating with a wall of said opening for cutting hairs entered in said opening, said sleeve and cutter being adjustable as a unit within said head whereby to dispose said side wall opening at different angles with respect to the handle portion of the head.

9. In a razor, a cutting head including a handle portion and a sleeve supporting portion, a resilient split sleeve supported by said head, said split defining the hair receiving slot of the razor, means supporting the sleeve in the head for angular adjustment about an axis transverse to the axis of the handle portion of the head Whereby to selectively dispose said hair receiving slot in line with or at an angle to the handle, and means for varying the eifective width of said slot including a plate member having a portion disposed in said slot, and means for connecting the plate and sleeve for adjustment as a unit about the axis of the sleeve, and for relatively shifting the plate and sleeve about said axis, a rotatable cutter mounted Within the sleeve, and means for rotating the cutter.

10. In a razor, a handle, an open-ended, resilient, cylindrical cutter supporting sleeve provided with a, slit running from end to end thereof, means carried by the handle for supporting the sleeve adjustably about an axis transverse to the axis of the handle, said slit in the sleeve defining the hair receiving slot of the razor, a rotatable cutter member within the sleeve in direct supporting engagement with the inner surface of the sleeve, and means for driving the cutter within the sleeve, said sleeve supporting means engaging the sleeve intermediate its ends whereby to maintain the open ends of the sleeve unobstructed so that hair cut by the cutter passes longitudinally of the sleeve out an open end thereof.

ARNOLD W. SCOTT. 

